Recent content by Harmon Shay

The early problem with the Empire Builder at and after Amtrak startup was that the train's Portland section should have remained in place. For Washington state, Stampede Pass was the correct route choice. The less-populous Wenatchee line was a poor performer with the North Coast Hiawatha in...

Aren't there also six additional coaches coming for the Hiawathas?

Thanks for the information. I haven't heard of any Flixbus runs in the Amtrak Thruway system. By the way, I'm also a 50-year Amtrak rider (53 now actually). I rode the first Amtrak Empire Builder out of Seattle. As I recall, it was an all-GN consist except for the NP Slumbercoach, possibly...

Actually I was wondering. Is there a way to get all the westbound and southbound bus schedules between Seattle and Portland and also the westbound ones between Portland and Spokane? Washington state, of course, has a law that allows subsidies for intercity bus services. At least it did as of...

That's a good point. As All Aboard Washington Secretary, I should pass that along. Actually, it may be time to seek state subsidy to beef up bus service to and from southeastern Washington, at least for now, since there appears to be nothing that could prompt BNSF to take Stampede Pass back up...

I haven't heard anything about Washington DOT requesting more Horizon coaches for the Cascades, but by my count of Horizon coaches, after the Borealis and the New Orleans-Mobile trains are added, there will be no more equipment of any kind available for expansion until the Airos get here, still...

Just wanted to say that this information about bus and train schedules and fares between Portland and Seattle, Portland -Pasco-Spokane and Portland-Seattle-Spokane is much appreciated! It saves me a huge amount of work, since the transportation companies involved make it so hard for people to...

I also still think they'll do it Hoosier State-Cardinal and VIA "J" train style, because if you just run a four-coach Borealis set on that Hiawatha rotation, you'll chase away a lot of Chicago-Milwaukee riders, not to mention ending up with a Hiawatha equipment rotation problem.

It sounds like this means they're going to have to subtract or add coaches in Milwaukee to accommodate all the people they'll have to carry, or they'll have to use the reservation system to limit the number of people the trains carry, or just tow an existing Hiawatha train set behind it between...

Thanks for the replies to my thoughts about Borealis consists. All very informative.

It's just that I don't think they are going to have enough Horizon coaches to create two additional five-coach trainsets for the Borealis. I suppose one thing they might do is keep the current two Hiawatha sets as they are and create two new trainsets with two or three coaches each (plus food...

They could indeed use Amfleet club-dinettes. I'm just used to Seattle being an all-Horizon base for the Cascades, no Amfleets at all.

I'm wondering if and how they're going to add and subtract cars in Milwaukee. I can't believe they can afford to send all five coaches to and from the Twin Cities.

Thanks. That's what I always assumed anyway. I haven't seen any Horizons leave Seattle lately to help with the Borealis. I hope they don't. We have little reserve as it is, and none when it comes to Horizon club-dinettes.

Do we have anything confirmed regarding equipment for this train? Most of what I've heard is that it will be Horizon like on most of our Cascades out here in the Northwest, though, as I remember, a test train was run with Superliners.